Performance: Keep Their Heads Ringin’

Through live and recorded sound, Keep Their Heads Ringin’ takes on the complicated symbolism of the bell as an emblem of freedom and equality, which is also marked with failure: the Liberty Bell’s famed crack that rendered the iconic hunk of cast-iron broken and silent at its arrival, or in the case of a campus belltower, echoes of Kent State and other acts of real or virtual violence set upon on campus freedoms.

Developed in 2020, Keep Their Heads Ringin’ questions notions of freedom, by lying bare the violence of institutional racism and its degradation—specifically addressing the rise in anti-Asian hate during the COVID-19 pandemic. The accumulation of slander slowly rings the reality of the current American climate by one “ding” and one “dong” at a time, combining the traditional ringing of the original clock tower bell with pejorative uses of the word of “ching-chong” and the popular use of “ding-dong” found in popular music, along with recorded conversations that the artist had with victims of anti-Asian sentiment.

Reconsidered for Tufts University and its belltower in Goddard Chapel in 2025, the sound installation and participatory procession invites visitors to move though campus together under this soundtrack and newly composed score by sound artist Austin Fisher, asking us truly what freedom means.

This program begins in the Aidekman Arts Center in the Michelle Lopez: Shadow of a Doubt exhibition. Together, the group will take a 15-minute uphill walk to Goddard Chapel culminating in a live bell performance (accessible pathways available).

Image: Michelle Lopez Tour: Keep Their Heads Ringin’ event commissioned by Protocinema, 202-21. Flag screen printed by Cayla Lockwood and produced by Will Owen.

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Host or Publisher Tufts University Art Galleries